Ocean Investments Is Mercer #1 Employer 2025 in Bulgaria

There are moments when recognition arrives at the end of a journey. And there are moments when it arrives in the middle of one.

For us, this one comes in motion.

Ocean Investments has been recognized as Mercer #1 Employer 2025 in Bulgaria – a distinction grounded in employee feedback and backed by a globally recognized methodology.

That matters. But not for the obvious reason.

Yes, it is meaningful to be recognized by one of the most respected global names in the field of people, culture, and organizational effectiveness. But the real weight of this moment lies elsewhere. It lies in the fact that this recognition reflects how people inside Ocean actually experience the company – during a year that has not been defined by comfort or stillness, but by movement, ambition, and change.

Because that is the context here.

Ocean is not trying to preserve a static model. It is actively evolving the way it builds companies and the way people work together across the group. That shift has a name: Ocean Evolution. It is grounded in a broader vision of Ocean as a decentralized business ecosystem – one built around autonomous teams, shared value creation, cultural coherence, and a deliberate move from hierarchy to ecosystem.

“This is a source of pride for all of us. It shows that even in periods of major change and challenge, we remain united and motivated,” said Veneta Kiryakova, Chief People & Culture Officer.

“2025 was a year of transformation, yet we still proved that our unity and positive spirit are stronger than any obstacle,” added Mihaela Nencheva, People & Culture Manager.

(Veneta Kiryakova, Chief People & Culture Officer, and Mihaela Nencheva, People & Culture Manager, in a personal talk about the Mercer #1 Employer Bulgaria 2025 award)

A recognition grounded in employee voice

The strongest part of this story is also the simplest: it does not rest on self-description but on actual employee voice.

The Mercer study for Ocean Investments looked across engagement, leadership, strategic focus, employee experience, flexibility and innovation, values, and support for performance. The result was built on feedback from 130 respondents across the companies in our group, with an 87% participation rate and an overall engagement score of 83%.

Some of the clearest signals stand out immediately:

• 95% say they are motivated to give more than what is usually required to help the company succeed
• 90% say the company reacts quickly to changing customer needs
• 88% say they clearly understand how their own work contributes to company goals

These figures have a pulse to them.

They suggest clarity. Commitment. Momentum. They point to a company where people see the direction, understand their role in it, and are willing to stretch for something they believe is worth building.

What employees value most at Ocean

The data gives the structure. But just as importantly, the more qualitative feedback behind the results gives that structure a human face.

When asked what they value most in the company, our employees most often pointed to:

• collaboration and teamwork
• the work environment and attitude toward employees
• opportunities for growth and career development
• innovation and change
• work-life balance and flexibility

That already says a lot. The actual comments we received say even more, though. Here are three of them that stayed with us most:

“When I talk to people I know about my job and employer, they’re often surprised and even ask, ‘Wait, is this really a Bulgarian company?’”

“We don’t feel like actual colleagues, but more like friends or close relatives.”

“What I value most in my company is the collective spirit, the opportunity to learn and grow in my profession, and the chance for my opinion to be heard.”

There is nothing corporate about lines like these, and that is exactly why they matter. Because the way people experience a company is never separate from the way that company performs. A culture that creates clarity tends to move faster. A culture that creates trust tends to collaborate better. A culture that gives people a real sense of contribution tends to unlock more ownership, not less. That is part of what makes this moment so meaningful for us. The recognition reflects the employee experience, yes – but it also says something about the operating environment in which that experience is happening.

Why this matters beyond Ocean

We see a way bigger theme underneath all this, by the way: what kind of companies Bulgaria is capable of building.

For a long time, business success here has been judged mostly by the usual measures – growth, scale, speed, efficiency. Those things still matter, and they always will. But they never tell the whole story. We truly believe the conditions people work in matter too. The quality of trust matters. The sense of direction matters. The daily experience inside a company matters, because sooner or later it shows up in everything else.

That is part of why this recognition carries weight beyond a single headline. It places a company experience built here, in Bulgaria, inside a global frame – and shows that what is being built locally can stand there with real substance.

For us, that is one of the most meaningful parts of this moment.

Not only that Ocean was recognized, but that a Bulgarian group of companies can aim for a serious, modern, deeply human standard of work – and be measured against it with credibility.

A milestone – and a responsibility

But let’s not forget – apart from creating pride, a recognition like this should also sharpen attention.

The value is not in hanging a certificate on the wall and calling the story complete. The value is in taking the signal seriously – in seeing it as evidence of trust, commitment, and shared direction, then continuing the work with the same discipline that made the result possible in the first place. We are already actively working on the next steps that will help us improve even further, which we believe is the right posture for a moment like this.

Let’s not be shy about it, though – we are immensely proud of this moment.

We are proud that Ocean Investments is Mercer #1 Employer 2025. We are proud that this result is rooted in the voices of our people. And we are proud because it arrives at a time when Ocean is not standing still, but choosing to evolve.

But above all, we take this as a signal.

A signal that the way we build matters.

A signal that the way we work matters.

A signal that culture is not the soft layer around the real work. It is part of the real work.

And if this recognition says anything worth carrying forward, it is this:

What we are building on the outside is only as strong as what people are experiencing on the inside.